Double Bass How do you get a big stage sound from an upright?

[Stewie]

I'm working on stamina with my new upright. Been playing Fenders forever. My bass has a Fishman P 100?.... I've been looking for a way to get big sound out front, out of our decent PA system. The threads I am reading use a lot of abbreviations and code, so I am stumped as to what I should use to get a good thump out front. Bands like The Fabulous Thunderbirds get almost a Fender sound, I'd like to stay close to the natural tone. I'm interested in what pickups and or amps work well with say, an 800 dollar limit on cost. I have a couple of decent combos for bass guitars already

Sorry if this is the 100th time you have seen this request, feel free to send me to previous posts, Thanks, Stew

 

[sean_on_bass]

For a natural sound from the PA, some players run a clip on mic routed to the PA, then use a piezo style pickup running into their amp for stage monitoring. The audience hears the miced sound out front, and you would hear more amp sound on stage from the pickup.

I have a piezo style pickup that runs into a pre-amp. From the pre-amp i have an output running to the PA and another output running to my amp on stage. Gets me plenty of stage volume but i lack the nice miced sound out front and get the more "fender" sound you refer to. I don't want a fender sound out of my upright bass though, so am trying to work away from that.

So the bottom line is, you have options, and you'll find players with a multitude of different setups and equipment. Just browse the threads on this board and you will start to get a feel for what people are using and what options you have. What combos for bass do you already own?

 

[Ric Vice]

I'm working on stamina with my new upright.....My bass has a Fishman P 100?.... I've been looking for a way to get big sound out front, out of our decent PA system......... Bands like The Fabulous Thunderbirds get almost a Fender sound, I'd like to stay close to the natural tone. I'm interested in what pickups and or amps work well with say, an 800 dollar limit on cost.

Lots of choices, I'd consider a Fishman Full Circle pickup. Acoustic Image and Euphonic Audio, both build great bass heads and cabinets.

Ric

 

[DoubleMIDI]

I'm interested in what pickups and or amps work well with say, an 800 dollar limit on cost.

That might be a bit low for all components.

I'm with Ric with the Full Circle as a good all-round pickup, if you do a lot of amplified bowing the Shadow SH-965NFX might be better.

With the Full Circle you might want to get a high impedance buffer/preamp. A good and cheap one is Francis Deck's HPFpre, series I or II.

To stick with your budget a cheaper amp that works with double bass like the Fender Rumble (but check which one works well with DB) might do the job.
If you can get a used Genz Benz Shuttle 3.0 combo (10" is better than 8"), that would be a nice amp and might fit the budget.

I doubt you can find AI or EA amplification that fits your budget together with a pickup, even used. But you might be lucky...

 

[Remyd]

Sub'd, although an $800 budget for me would only come at lottery time.

 

[Ric Vice]

That might be a bit low for all components.

I'm with Ric with the Full Circle as a good all-round pickup, if you do a lot of amplified bowing the Shadow SH-965NFX might be better.

With the Full Circle you might want to get a high impedance buffer/preamp. A good and cheap one is Francis Deck's HPFpre, series I or II.

To stick with your budget a cheaper amp that works with double bass like the Fender Rumble (but check which one works well with DB) might do the job.
If you can get a used Genz Benz Shuttle 3.0 combo (10" is better than 8"), that would be a nice amp and might fit the budget.

I doubt you can find AI or EA amplification that fits your budget together with a pickup, even used. But you might be lucky...

Very true, I've forgotten just how expensive some of the newer amp/cabinet offerings are, from Euphonic Audio and Acoustic Image. The Genz Benz Shuttle 3.0 10T
does have better defined lows than the 8T had. It's a shame that they don't build that amp any longer. It was a great value for it's features. I wasn't fond
of the Genz Benz 12T because they used a different tweeter in that box. You also might look for a Gallien Krueger MBS used.

Ric

 

[Povl Carstensen]

I have a couple of decent combos for bass guitars already

What are these, it might be useable.

 

[Josh Kneisel]

I run a Gage Lifeline through a Darklass Supersymetry comp into a SansAmp BDDI seems to get me a controllable, big sound with no feedback issues in any setting with minimal adjustments.